Enhancing knowledge sharing among knowledge workers in the international higher education context: a moderating effect of grit
Description
Higher education institutions (HEIs) are considered pivotal for knowledge sharing activities. Knowledge workers employed by HEIs not only educate future experts, but also contribute to the overall societal prosperity by actively sharing knowledge through the international projects their affiliations chose to participate in. Since successful project’s realisation highly depends on sharing both explicit and tacit knowledge among knowledge workers, it is wise to explore their personal abilities which shape their attitudes towards knowledge sharing. Preliminary analysis identified openness, trust and mentoring as important abilities in knowledge sharing, while grit proved its importance as a moderator. To explore these hypotheses, data was collected by knowledge workers employed in thirteen HEIs active in nine CEEPUS (Central European Exchange Program for University Studies) networks. The study used cross-sectional data collected from a sample of 208 staff members of CEEPUS HEIs. A moderated mediation model was tested to analyse the impact of knowledge workers' abilities on knowledge sharing.The results confirmed openness and mentoring facilitate sharing of both explicit and tacit knowledge, while grit supports only tacit knowledge sharing. As tacit knowledge is more difficult to share, gritty individuals may achieve better results. Hence HR experts should develop practices to improve grit among knowledge workers.This study is one of the few to explore a combination of specific personal abilities and grit in improving knowledge sharing among knowledge workers in the international surrounding. Given the rigour applied in project’s evaluation, these findings can help HEIs to train and select knowledge workers according to their aptitude to share knowledge.
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Steps to reproduce
The cross-sectional data was collected from 208 of totally of 825 employees included (response rate 25 %).The respondents come from thirteen CEEPUS countries with the majority coming from Croatia (20%), Hungary (16%), Slovakia (13%), Serbia (12%) and the Czech Republic (10%). The proportion of female and male respondents was 60 and 40% respectively. The majority of respondents were between 40-49 years old (35%), and had between 10 and 20 years of service (38%), having a doctorate degree (163 respondents – 78%), and holding a management position (52%). Most of the institutions surveyed are medium-sized (53%) and are administered by the state (84%). Several variables were used as control variables, including: gender, age, work experience and management position. Due to the nature of the study and the potential risk of common method bias, several measures were taken to minimalize this problem. Data were collected from individuals representing both academic and non-academic staff, and the questionnaire contained clear and concise questions. Furthermore, additional analyses were conducted to investigate the potential risk of CMB. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted for all three main factors: Grit, Knowledge sharing and Knowledge workers' capabilities. Based on the existing CFA models, new CFA models were created by using the CFA model with good data fit as a basis for creating new CFA models that included an additional factor – a new factor representing CMB. The CMB factor was created and linked to each manifest variable to measure Grit, Knowledge sharing and Knowledge workers capabilities. In this way, each model included a hypothesized factor that explained the covariance between all items covered by the main factors. A CFA model that included CMB was not identified, which means that it was not possible to assess too many parameters included in the input variance covariance matrix. The results confirmed a positive and statistically significant correlation between explicit and tacit knowledge sharing and management support (Hypothesis 1). The results also confirmed a positive and statistically significant correlation between perseverance as a dimension of grit and knowledge workers' capabilities, which manifests itself in openness and mentoring (Hypothesis 2). To test Hypothesis 3, which states that grit increases knowledge workers capabilities for tacit and explicit knowledge sharing, a moderated mediation model was tested by conducting two independent analyses. The first model, which examined the influence of grit on tacit knowledge sharing, included the following predictors: knowledge workers' capabilities, grit, interaction between passion and knowledge workers' capabilities, and interaction between knowledge workers' capabilities and perseverance. The second model analyzed the influence of grit on explicit knowledge sharing with the same two predictors: grit and knowledge workers' capabilities.
Institutions
- Polytechnic of RijekaPrimorje-Gorski Kotar, Rijeka